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Although the census on marine life isn’t due to report properly until late next year, the scientists involved have decided to whet our appetites with details of deep see ‘jumbo dumbo’ octopi, ‘indescribable invertebrates’, and worms that drill for oil nearly a kilometre below the surface.

In total, five deep-sea projects will have undertaken 210 expeditions when the census has been completed.

“There is both a great lack of information about the ‘abyss’ and substantial misinformation,” says Robert Carney, of Louisiana State University. “Many species live there. However, the abyss has long been viewed as a desert. Worse, it was viewed as a wasteland where few to no environmental impacts could be of any concern.”

Now that they have stared into the abyss, says Carney, the census scientists are concerned. Here are some of the critters they are concerned about.

Collected between 1,000 to 3,000 meters deep, was a very large example of a finned octopod, normally called a dumbo due to its endearing habit of swimming by flapping a pair of large fins that look like ears.

This jumbo example was nearly two metres long and 6 kg heavy, the largest ever collected. In total nine species were found on the mid-Atlantic ridge, including one new to science.

Later a huge catch of corals, sea cucumbers and sea urchins was pulled up from the ridge. Researchers described it as “indescribable”. “It’s hard to believe that such exuberance of life exists a kilometre deep into the ocean,” says the census.

The team also pulled up a Neocyema, the strange orange thing pictured below, only the fifth example of this fish ever caught.

Perhaps the strangest find though was a Lamellibranchia tubeworm. When a robot arm lifted the worm clear of the sea floor, crude oil started leaking from the hole it had left behind. Apparently the worm had been feasting on the oil.

More photos below the fold…

The jumbo dumbo (Photo courtesy of Mike Vecchione)

New species of ‘dumbo’ (Photo courtesy of David Shale)

Neocyema (Photo courtesy of David Shale)	Magnified copepod from the Atlantic (Photo courtesy Bünzow/Corgosinho)
Sea cucumber, Enypniastes, (Photo courtesy of Larry Madin, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)